Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Delaware, the Democratic U.S. Senate primary turned out to be far less competitive than many observers expected: incumbent Sen. Tom Carper ended up defeating Kerri Evelyn Harris by nearly 30 points.
* In the closely watched gubernatorial race in Georgia, a new Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Channel 2 poll found Stacey Abrams (D) and Brian Kemp (R) tied at 45% each.
* The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC closely tied to the House Republican leadership, continues to use information from a confidential document to attack former CIA officer Abigail Spanberger’s (D) congressional campaign in Virginia. National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) conceded this morning that the attacks “probably deserves some examination.”
* Barack Obama will be in California tomorrow, headlining an event for seven Democratic congressional hopefuls. Next week, the former president will also be in Ohio, campaigning in support of Richard Cordray’s (D) gubernatorial candidacy.
* On a related note, we learned this week that Michelle Obama is slated to host voter-registration rallies in Las Vegas and Miami later this month.
* The New York Times and Siena College have partnered for an interesting polling experiment, covering dozens of competitive U.S. House races, and three of the polls are already complete. Of particular interest: in California’s 50th district, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R) appears to be tied with Harley Rouda (D), 45% to 45%. * Though Vice President Mike Pence once vowed to permanently steer clear of negative campaigning, he appears in three new attack ads paid for by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. * Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) still won’t endorse state Attorney General Bill Schuette (R), his party’s nominee to replace him. * And in Montana, Republican Senate hopeful Matt Rosendale has made dubious claims to being a “rancher.” He now seems to be quietly backing away from the label, removing the word from some of its campaign materials.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
